The National Debt Clock

[Jaysyn]

We (the USA) would have spiraled into a depression that made the 30's look like a pleasure cruise.

Maybe you should reexamine your calculations.

The consensus of economists and policymakers at the time of the original TARP was that the U.S. government couldn’t afford to experiment with an economic collapse. That view in mainstream economic circles has, if anything, only hardened with the program’s success in recouping the federal spending.

A study this summer by former Fed Vice Chairman Alan Blinder and Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi was representative of that consensus. They projected that without federal action — TARP and the stimulus — America’s gross domestic product would have fallen more than 7 percent in 2009 and almost 4 percent in 2010, compared with the actual combined decline of about 4 percent.

“It would not be surprising if the underemployment rate approached one-fourth of the labor force,” they wrote of their scenario. “With outright deflation in prices and wages in 2009-11, this dark scenario constitutes a 1930s-like depression.

Back in 2008, that view was persuasive. Republicans like McConnell and Blunt swallowed their distaste for government action and persuaded their colleagues to vote with them for TARP. Liberals like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank swallowed their dislike of Bush and distrust of the bankers.

Source

No one can really be sure exactly what would have happened, but I do realize that just about every small contractor in the US would have been put out of business. We are the ones that use a line of credit to get a job done & then get paid after we complete the project. I know for an absolute fact that the 25 year old private engineering firm that I've worked for for the past 15 years would have gone under from the ensuing credit freeze.


Zandi: Financial rescue and stimulus responsible for saving or creating 8.5 million jobs

Timmermann: Everyone hates it, but the TARP bailout worked

I hope we as a nation have learned our lesson & never let our economic leaders put us back in a similar position.